The obligatory 2009 post.

Today is the last day of a wonderful year! I might even classify it away as one of my favorites ever.

So many great memories..

January: I rang in 2009 in Nashville in a hot tub with some of my best friends. We had a huge ice storm. Went back to Nashville for the wedding of one of my sorority sisters and saw some old friends from Tennessee. Started wedding planning for my brother's wedding.

February: I made homemade Valentine's Day cards for some of my friends. Celebrated Christmas in February with my favoritest cousin! Found the bridesmaids' dresses for my brother's wedding. Had a midnight cupcake baking party with Kim and Moses.

March: Made St. Patrick's Day cards for my friends because card making was my new {very short-lived} obsession. Joined the gym. Saw the Southeast Easter Passion. Took an amazing road trip with 15 of my favorite people to the beach for spring break.

April: Went back to Tennessee almost every weekend for parties. Celebrated my best friend's 22nd birthday. My friends from TN come in town for Thunder. Had sushi for the first time, and almost did karaoke for the first time.

May: Had a bridal shower for my future sister-in-law. Went to Tennessee almost every weekend again. Went to KD Formal. Celebrated Stephanie's birthday on Beale Street in Memphis. Went fishing with the girls at Laura's house. Saw a Journey cover band. Went to Union's graduation.

June: Kristen came to stay with us for the summer. Got a my first DSLR camera. Took Hope's wedding pictures. Visited Kristen too much at her new job at Perkfection {a coffee shop}. Started doing yoga at the gym.

July: Celebrated a rainy 4th of July. Turned 23. Went to Lynn's Paradise Cafe for my birthday dinner with Mel & Kristen, then crashed a gay couples' first date that night. Got my stuff stolen at Holiday World. My brother got married! My grandma, aunt, and cousins {including my favoritest Cousin} came in town for a week and we went to the zoo.

August: Spent a weekend in Indianapolis with my brother Adam & his girlfriend Amanda. My KD twin got married; attended her wedding in Kentucky. Went on my first date with Josh! Then went on my 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, etc dates with Josh. Attended the Iron Man competition in Louisville. Took Tobey and Kosmo on their first play date.

September: Went to Josh's family farm for the first time and met his parents. Said goodbye to baby Mia {who I babysat for}. Went to the Heritage Festival. Went lazy-river style tubing with Josh and some friends; took forever and ended up hitchhiking back to our cars. Went to Philadelphia with Josh for his half marathon. Went to Akron, Ohio the following weekend for another half marathon. Got "bitten" and started running.

October: Ran my first 5k! Adam and Amanda came in town for an evening; Josh and I became the reigning Mad Gab champs. Went to the pumpkin patch. Went to a wine tasting. Josh ran in a 200 mile relay. We made homemade pumpkin pie. We carved pumpkins. We were course marshals for the Louisville Marathon. Had a lazy Halloween at home. I got my first running injury from running too much.

November: Went back to the family farm and I got to shoot a gun for the first time. Josh went to Malaysia for a week for work. I went to a petting zoo with Shelly and her kids. Spent a girls day out with my mom, Aunt Kathy, Merideth, and her mom at Stream Cliff Farm. Josh surprised me by coming home from Malaysia a day early. Josh and I experimented with Time Lapsed photography. Gage turned 4. Ran in a 5 mile race on Thanksgiving. Spent Thanksgiving with Josh's family.

December: It snowed! I tried to convince Josh to quit buying stuff so I could get him presents. Decorated for Christmas. Ran the Reindeer Romp 4k where I came in 7th for my age group! Made a gingerbread house. Celebrated four wonderful Christmases between my family and Josh's families.

I love looking back on a year and remember everything that's happened, how things have changed, what I've learned and how I've grown as a person. 2009 was definitely a great year. Not that it didn't have its downsides, but over all it was wonderful!

I'm not usually one to make New Year's Resolutions... I feel like "resolution" usually ends up being short for "resolutions people make and don't follow through with." Plus I usually get all over-zealous and decide that I'm going to read 52 books this year, take salsa lessons, learn to sew, train for a marathon, and start a photography business. All today. Right now. While going to school and working. Then I realize I'm only one person and do have limits and then I feel like a failure because I can't do it all. SO. I just like to make goals that I'd like to accomplish or little things I'd like to be more deliberate about to make myself a better person. Here are a few things I'd like to do in 2010:

• my biggest goal is to run a half marathon {faster than Josh runs the full marathon}
• keep a better running log
  
• be more intentional with relationships, as in: call people more, always answer the phone, send letters just because, plan things with people {especially family that lives out of town but not too far away... no excuse not to see those people more than twice a year!!}
  
• get an address book & send birthday and holiday cards to family & friends
• graduate from college!
• improve my photography, learn more about my camera, & save money for a new lens or two
  
• take a picture a day for a whole year {& stick with it!}
• actually print pictures out and keep them organized, at least in photo boxes
  
• get rid of clothes that don't fit me anymore
  
• have another Girls' Day with my family

So there we have it. 2009 was awesome... but I'm excited to see what 2010 has in store!!! I can't wait!

9 years is 9 too many.

Today is the day I dread most every year.... because it hits me that another year of my life has gone by without my Daddy in it. And 9 seems like way too many.

Stuff like this is what I miss most about him. He always knew how to make me laugh, he was always there for me, and I always knew he loved me more than anything in the world. We had fun together. His sense of humor was the best. If he were here today, he'd tell me not to be sad and would know exactly what to say to make me feel better. I wish I could call him right now and tell him that I don't think it's fair that my dad isn't here... that it sucks and it hurts and it's the worst feeling in the world. And somehow he would know what to say to make it all okay. He was cool like that. Plus he called me Junebug and I miss that.

I love you, Dad. And I miss you so much.

Check out my snazzy new running shirt... and meet Gertie!!!

After Christmas I should be all set on cold-weather running clothes! I got this cool Asics Thermopolis running shirt from Josh. He has one just like it. Only a bigger size and a different color. It's really soft and it even has holes for your thumbs {oops sorry that's not in focus, but you still get the idea...}

I love it!.... however, it's not a good idea to run in just it {well, and pants!} on a cold, windy, December day.

Trust me, I found this out the hard way.

Sometime last week Josh had talked me into running the Hangover Classic 10 mile race on New Year's Day {but now we're not doing it.. more on that later}. So on Sunday we both went out to do our long runs - his was 13 miles, mine was bumped up to 6.5, and he was just going to run the loop twice}. So anyway, we parked the truck and got ready to go. For some insane reason at the last minute I decided not to wear my gloves. My "logic" was that I usually take them off about a mile in anyway, so I figured I'd just suffer through that first mile until I warmed up. For some, also insane, reason I didn't wear a jacket or an extra top layer of any kind either. Apparently I didn't check the weather channel. Well, actually, I know I didn't check the weather. But I figured Josh did and I wore the same thing as him. Plus the thermostat in the truck said the outside temp was 43 degrees.

IT LIES.

Not only was it cold {I'm not sure what the temperature was, but it HAD to be lower than 43}, it was also WINDY. Like, really windy. Within the first half mile I decided I was super miserable. It was hard to breathe, my lungs were hurting from the cold air, and I couldn't feel my fingers. The loop takes you right by Target, so I reasoned with myself and decided if I was still that miserable by the time I got to Target I would just go inside.

Once I got to Target I was feeling a little better. Shortly after that I met up with Josh in the park as he was looping back around, but his knee was hurting pretty bad and I was still freezing so we stopped and walked. Unfortunately, we were still over a mile from the truck so it was almost just easier to run than walk just to get out of the cold faster. I'm pretty sure my total distance was not 6.5...I think it was closer to 5.5 and I didn't run all of it, but what can you do?

MOST MISERABLE RUN YET. YAY ME! :o)

As I mentioned, I'm no longer doing the Hangover Classic. Since Josh hurt his knee, he can't run it with me, and I don't know that I'm ready to tackle 10 miles all by myself yet. Part of me wants to try it because I was pretty excited about it and it would be a huge challenge for me and it would also make me feel a lot better about the half marathon if I could actually run 10 miles, plus I can do it for free, but I also don't want to set myself up for failure. And if the weather is anything like it was on Sunday.... no, thank you. So I'm not sure...but I probably won't do it.

So, as of now, my next race is a 5k on January 16th!

In related news....

For Christmas Josh got me a new running buddy!! AKA the one thing runners want most... a Garmin! He got me the 205, so now I can finally give Dustin back his even though he doesn't even run. At least my calorie count will be more accurate now, considering my Garmin won't think I'm a 300 pound man. Unfortunately this means my calorie count will actually be less. Shucks.

Anywho, I name pretty much everything, so of course I have to name my new running buddy since I have a feeling we will be spending quite a bit of time together, especially come spring. I am thinking Gertrude. Gertrude the Garmin, Gertie for short.

I realize that it's blue and therefore perhaps a little more masculine than a "Gertie," but she's my Garmin so just deal. :)

Thanks, Josh! I think Gertie and I will be great friends!!!

Four Christmases {part 2}

{continued from Four Christmases part 1}

For those of you that were concerned, I felt much better Christmas morning and managed to go about the day as planned {even if it was on about 4 hours of non-consecutive sleep}. I didn't feel 100% great, but I did feel a lot better. I skipped Christmas breakfast with Josh's family - the eggs, bacon, biscuits & gravy, and waffles looked delicious, but I opted for my regular bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios.

On Christmas morning we exchanged gifts with the rest of Josh's family before heading north for Christmas with my family.

First I got to open a special box.... I wonder what's inside?! {Kosmo looks nervous..}

A PENGUIN!

Don't worry, Kosmo, it's just a penguin! Watch out, the lid might get ya on the head though...

When kids are involved it seems like the Christmas Tornado rips through within about 2 minutes of opening presents..

Nothing like being a kid on Christmas morning!

Then we went to North Vernon for Christmas with my family...

Aunt Kathy and Uncle Richard were wonderful hosts {as always!!}

After lunch we opened presents.

And Gabi talked on the phone....

to Eric...

And played with my new penguin..

And gave everyone hugs when it was time for her to go take her nap.

What a little cutie! Can't wait to meet her little brother in April!

Aww... Eric and Jamie's first Christmas as a married couple!

Time for dessert and games!

We played Apples to Apples {I won!} and Loaded Questions... which is a game to see how much you know the people you're playing with. Ironically, Josh won. He won a game about knowing a bunch of people he doesn't know. I guess he fits in pretty well!

I am so lucky to have these people in my life. I had such a wonderful Christmas Day {despite not feeling 100% great}. This year I can honestly say that I was looking more and more forward to Christmas instead of dreading it. It's been hard since my Dad passed away and the last day that I saw him was on Christmas day {in 2000}. It's kind of made the holidays hard the past several years, but this year it was different. I still miss him so much and wish he was here and I'm sure that will never go away, but I am glad that I am beginning to love Christmas again! :o)

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and got to spend it with people you love!

Four Christmases {part 1}

So far this year I have celebrated four Christmases! It all started on Christmas Eve EVE when Josh got me a pooping penguin.

It poops jelly beans and it was the talk of the next few days! I think the kids liked it almost as much as I did.

Okay, now on to the actual Christmas celebrations. First, we went and exchanged gifts with my mom.

Isn't she pretty? I love her a whole whole lot. And she makes really awesome fudge.

Kosmo and Tobey even exchanged gifts.

I think all the excitement kind of wore little Tobey out. :)

After lunch and present swapping with mom it was back to Josh's for Christmas Eve pizza and movies with his family! We watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and Elf {A Christmas Story was saved for Christmas morning}.

We also had a ton of sweet stuff... think peanut butter fudge, snickerdoodles, gingerbread cookies, and {my personal favorite} PUPPY CHOW!

I love this stuff and I'm so glad my mom made it! I tend to forget about it for the rest of the year, but it's so good! I couldn't believe Josh had never had it before!

We went ahead exchanged gifts with Mandy and Joe {Josh's sister and brother-in-law} because they weren't going to be able to make it the next morning for Christmas breakfast.

It was a fun day/evening... I love the togetherness that the holidays bring!

After that we had a bunch of last minute present wrapping to do!!!

After that? I was up at 2:30, 4:00, and 6:30am SICK. It was 100% not awesome, plus 10x worse because it was Christmas. I was just praying that I'd be better in the morning and not stuck in bed/the bathroom all day....

to be continued...